Anya Kvitka has been quiet for a while.

Professionally that is. In person, she doesn’t stay quiet long. She’s got a lot to say—about the arts in San Jose, about ABBA and about her recent decision to sign with the tastemaking independent label that dug Flying Lotus out of obscurity.

“I’ve purposely been dormant,” she says, nestled on a sagging couch at Philz Coffee in downtown San Jose. “As an artist, you have to really be able to glue yourself to something before committing to releasing that content. I was just very steadily looking for something to be worthy of the fans’ attention. I think this is the first time in that time I’ve reached something that’s tangible—and I’m really excited to see where it goes.”

The “it” she’s talking about is her recent signing to Plug Research, an established and respected indie label based in Los Angeles. “They have an amazing track record,” she says. Plug released Flying Lotus’ debut LP, 1983, and currently boast a roster of boundary pushing artists, like the future-jazz/electronic producer, Milosh, and neo-soul crooner, Bilal. “A lot of these people I’ve looked up to my whole life that I feel are, like, kind of musical pioneers. I just feel like, ‘Holy crap, I’m a part of that now.’”

Anya isn’t the only one excited about what’s ahead. Allen Avanessian, owner and CEO of Plug Research is just as stoked.

Avanessian first became intrigued with Anya after hearing her feature vocal on the track “Penny Nickel Dime,” by alternative hip-hop producer and Plug Research artist Amp Live. Avanessian asked Kvitka to meet with him and play him some of her music.

“It kind of blew me away,” he says. “It was ahead of its time.”

What he heard was a singer with an incredible range—technically and stylistically. Not only could she belt out powerful melodies, but she could assume the soulful timbre of Amy Winehouse, or go an entirely different direction, which Avanessian describes as “future-soul-electronic-pop.”

Plug Research is not the first label to find Anya’s style and sound appealing. She’s flirted with labels in the past, including the majors.

From the moment she began performing, Anya’s powerful vocals cut through the din of the myriad guitar, bass and drums bands in the South Bay. Fans flocked to her, and within months, industry interest began to trickle in. “It was insane,” she recalls. “Within two months I had Atlantic Records calling me. It was weird. Because realistically that doesn’t happen to people.”

Born in Moscow, Kvitka came from a home that valued not only the structure of classical training, but the drama and bombast of pop.

“My mom and my dad kind of brought ABBA, Queen and Modern Talk (into the home),” she says. “Pink Floyd—a lot of that was a great foundation, too, because I’m not sure how many people at that crucial age, where you’re developing your tastes, are exposed to that type of music.”

Kvitka emigrated to the U.S. in 1992, where she continued to develop as a musician. She majored art history and minored in piano performance at UC Santa Cruz—graduating in 2009. While there, she garnered serious recognition as a standout member of the a capella group, Acquire A Capella, and even starred in a viral video—an a capella version of “I’m on a Boat,” by The Lonely Island—which six years ago became a YouTube phenomenon and has clocked almost 3 million views at last count.

It wasn’t even a question of what to do with herself when she came back to San Jose. She started making music, both as a solo artist and with a backing band, the Get Down—blending her omnivorous musical tastes by incorporating elements of her classical music education with her love of pop and R&B.

Eventually, Kvitka become Anya—just Anya—a sultry, silken-voiced soul singer with a little bit of sass and grit.

She has “the look” Avanessian says. “She’s forward thinking about how she wants to do things. It’s unique, but it also has a familiarity to it. That was extremely appealing to me.”

Kvitka says she is happy to be at Plug Research for a number of reasons.

“I did talk to a lot of major labels,” she says. “But whenever you sign to a major—especially when you’re an up-and-coming artist—there are a lot of artistic sacrifices you have to make.”

She has never felt that Plug Research would try to box her in. “Allen (Avanessian) was open to my creative direction,” Kvitka says. “in fact, he was encouraging to it. It just made sense. It was kind of a no-brainer.”

She will celebrate her signing to Plug Research this Friday when she headlines The Ritz in downtown San Jose. “Now that I’m on Plug Research, I really feel like this is the beginning. So, like, this show for me is really just the announcement that I feel like now is the start.”

Kvitka will be joined by longtime collaborator and lead guitarist Matt Gonzales, who has been keeping a busy touring schedule with the nuevo norteño sextet SuenaTron. “We can’t wait to rock the Ritz,” Gonzales says. “There are going to be a lot of surprises.”

Drummer Mitchell Wilcox, also of Cathedrals, and producer Marcus Daniels round out the lineup.

Going forward, Avanessian says the plan will be to release a four- or five-song EP, which he hopes to release by the end of the year. After the EP and a few singles, Avanessian says Anya should be ready to put out a full-length record.

It’s all quite exciting, Kvitka says—though it can also be nerve-wracking.

“Honestly you know, it’s not easy to decide to do this,” she says “Of course I think every day, ‘You know, maybe I should commit to a full-time job.’… I think the hardest thing is when you realize that this really is about convincing yourself.” If all else fails, Kvitka could go and work at a startup—heavy emphasis on could. “My parents are very heavily in the tech world, and I live in the middle of it. I mean, tech is so successful and so tangible. (But that’s) not who I am.”

Music and Arts Editor, Nick Veronin, contributed to this story. Anya and the Get Down play The Ritz on July 3.

While everyone’s been waiting for local eclectic soul singer-songwriter Anya Kvitka to record a debut full length, she decided to switch gears and instead put out a four EPs, released each week this month, and one song at a time.

Last week she released the first EP, Ruby Rhod, and this week she will be releasing her second EP, Mr. zOrg.

“I see them as their own short bodies of work, and they represent all of the sides of me,” Anya says. “I’m pretty schitzo when it comes to this stuff. Instead of doing a single every time that’s very different from the last one, I wanted to make more of a body of work that resembled a side of me. I wanted to organize it a little better and say ‘look it’s not just these completely random singles.’”

The titles of the EPs are taken from characters from the film Fifth Element. The third and fourth EP will continue with this theme with Diva Pavalaguna and Leeloo, respectively.

“I’m a huge fan of the Fifth Element. I named each EP after a character—what I associate with that character. Like the first one is based off of Chris Tucker’s character, Ruby Rhod. It’s funky fresh—like future funk. The second one is Mr. zOrg. He’s supposed to be the evil character, so it’ll be darker, more hard hitting songs,” Anya says.

The third EP, Diva Pavalaguna will be more atmospheric, ambient house-influenced songs, while the final EP Leeloo, will be reflect more of Anya’s sassy, soulful side.

Stay tuned for more details on Anya’s full-length album.

Visit Anya’s website for details.

Almost a year ago, local rap-battler Dirtbag Dan, competed in the Red Bull battle rap semi-finals in Southern California and won. He was told that not only would he be moving on the finals in Atlanta, where Eminem would be the deciding judge, but the battles would be televised as a mini-series on the G4 Network.

He waited and waited to get word on when the finals would be taped, but it kept getting pushed back. Finally, a week ago, he got the phone call. The finals will be shot on May 29th. What hasn’t been made clear is when the show will air.

“I feel like I’m in Mission Impossible and the phone is going to explode when I hang up,” Dan says. “All I know is I got to get to Atlanta and battle on the 29th. I’m sure they’re tell us what they plan to do with the footage when we get there.”

VIDEO: Dirtbag Dan wins at the semi-finals in Southern California.

Whether this competition will air on G4 or an entirely different network is unclear at this point, but this upcoming battle could be a big deal for Dan. Despite having already battled in many different competitions, including the widely popular online Grind Time league, a rap battle on TV could put him into the homes of mainstream America. Dan is already one of the biggest (and most polarizing) names in the exploding online battle scene. This just seems like the next logical step.

Dan’s dedication and hard work to battle rapping have helped make him a recognizable face on Youtube. In that time he has never once stopped making music. The release of the Self Help Tapes last year showed that even as he was busy refining his dick jokes, he was maturing as a musician, offering some of his most serious, heartfelt songs to date. His collaboration with local singer Anya in particular is a gem. The song, “Alive,” is just an honest expression of how much he loves his wife. For a battle-rapper with a tough reputation to uphold, showing his vulnerability may be one of the bravest things he’s yet done.

MORE INFO: Read the 2011 Metro Newspaper cover story on Dirtbag Dan.

The Usuals has been the command center for Anya and the Get Down over the last few months as the young South Bay singer-songwriter has kickstarted her solo career. Whenever I talk to her about what she’s doing—and when she plays live—she always remembers to mention and thank not only the band, but also Usuals co-owner Marie Millare and every single person she’s gathered around her: video director Brendan Van Auken, photographer Mark Sebastian, stylist Jazmine Lazzarino of 5 Color Cowboy, makeup artist Kani Cortes, the Usuals and Flora & Fauna for her wardrobe, and so on.

I never totally understood her persistent attention to detail on this stuff—like, is she just a really gracious person, or what?

But Saturday night at the Usuals, when she unveiled the video for her single “Gone Baby Gone,” I realized what it is: every piece of what Anya does is critical to her look, her style and her sound. No detail escapes her, or her team.

This was evident in her live set last night, which opened with a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “In My Bed,” and also included Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang” (“Anybody seen Kill Bill?” Anya asked before she played it) and Estelle’s “American Boy,” as well as her original songs like “Baggage” and “Runnin.” Her singing style, the band’s jams and even the song choice all reflect a heady mix of vintage nightclub swank with modern cool.

But it was even more evident in the video for “Gone Baby Gone,” which the Usuals screened right before the performance. Looking like a glossy, Vertigo-era Hitchcock film mashed up with a 21st century postmodern horror movie, it brings out the dark themes of betrayal, anger and murderous vengeance that casual listeners to the song are almost certain to miss the first time through.

A mix of rock, reggae, hip-hop and dubstep, the song is bouncy and beat-heavy enough for its meaning to fly under the radar, but the video spells out everything with a noirish plot and a building air of menace. The song is like something Winehouse herself would have written, but the look of the video captures a totally different feel—from the clothes to the hair to the way she moves, it’s all an extension of an out-of-time persona Anya has been cultivating since her earlier work with the hip-hop crew Soapbox Melodics. And that’s why the details—and the people who make them happen—are so important.

The show was packed last night, with locals Vida Killz and Rey Resurreccion bringing short opening sets. Killz started low-key, sitting down at the edge of the stage to rap “47.” But by “Oro De Corazon” just a couple of songs later, she was up and delivering that off-kilter, hair-in-her-eyes intensity that seems to smolder in her best work. Usually setting her songs to dark, glimmering beats, it was a trip to see her backed by a live acoustic guitar and drum, but it worked.

And what can you say about Rey? There’s something about his playful, San-Jose-proud swagger that is totally infectious, even in such a short set. He had Aaron Aquino (aka Squareweezy of the Bangerz) DJing, and the results were nuts. Aquino was just going off on whatever that electronic device he was fiddling with was, and they both were egging each other on. “Spaceship music, man!” shouted Rey near the end.

Though last night was the release party for Anya’s video, it won’t actually go live for a few more days. Watch this blog to see it when it does.